|
|
New Fiction, Mystery & Science Fiction July 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
The Half Life
by Rachel Beanland
Eileen, a 23-year-old American woman, follows her new husband Paul to a Mediterranean island, where he is the head of Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender. Eileen joins a makeshift community of navy wives, and as she settles into life on the island she falls in love with the place. When Italian activists and scientists sound the alarm about possible nuclear contamination in the water, the island erupts in protests, made worse by the ongoing mishaps of the U.S. Navy. Soon, Eileen's marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets -- and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she's been handed.
|
|
|
|
Make Nice
by Ryan Effgen
A comedy of manners about three generations of a family -- a snail scientist, a soon-to-be divorcee, her teenage daughter, a hapless con man, and their feckless patriarch -- descending on a nostalgic Lake Michigan vacation island. The Pickford siblings have every intention of making nice, but as secrets spill, old flames are fanned, and an innocent snail is crushed beneath the heel of a hiking boot, the long weekend of family bonding veers into disaster.
|
|
|
|
Meet Me in Paris
by Kristin Harmel
Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love and loss, set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris. A mother and daughter are spending time together after a cancer diagnosis; a rock star is on a career revival tour; an elderly songwriter is trying to contact his lost love. These and other intertwining stories unfold over a few spring days, as a group of Americans in Paris must find their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light.
|
|
|
|
City of Widows
by Nadia Hashimi
In 2020, the US withdrew troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of occupation. A whole generation of Afghan women had been born during that time -- women who had gone to school, entered professions, even served in the army and Parliament. In the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Kabul, women were TV newscasters, shop owners, doctors, teachers, lawyers, and soldiers. As the Taliban filled the streets again, they knew everything was about to change.
|
|
|
|
Country People
by Daniel Mason
Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband and father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories. He is also a bit lost, 12 years late with his PhD on Russian folktales and increasingly haunted by a sense that he's become a disappointment to his family. So when his wife, Kate, accepts a job at a college in Vermont, he decides that this will be the year to move forward with his life. But no sooner does he arrive than he finds himself entangled with a colorful cast of characters, including a ghostly tree surgeon, a scythe-mad biochemist, a Shakespearean temptress, and a photographer of snowflakes obsessed with chronicling an Inventory of Wrong Ideas. It's all good fun until Miles stumbles upon a bizarre local legend, which he suspects might not be just a legend after all.
|
|
|
|
Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
by Ben Reeves
Travis is Death in the modern world. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgement. He never tries to change anyone's fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life must eventually end. Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous daughter Layla, who live across the hall, and despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive, and what might be irrevocably lost in death.
|
|
|
|
The Great Wherever
by Shannon Sanders
Aubrey Lamb is an underpaid gig worker, grieving the recent loss of her father. When she inherits his stake in a Tennessee farm, she sees an opportunity to erase a mounting pile of debt. Watching her arrival with interest are four ghosts: Aubrey's ancestors, who never hesitate to pass judgment on the living. As Aubrey reconnects with her living family, another story unfolds: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by Aubrey's great-grandfather, one of the first Black landowners in his community. The farm proves to be a burdensome inheritance, turning the Lambs against one another, culminating in a tragedy that splinters the family. Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, Aubrey must weigh the hopes and burdens of her forebears with the very real needs of her future.
|
|
|
|
Single Girls
by John Searles
An infectious and charming fictionalization of the iconic Helen Gurley Brown's early years at the helm of Cosmopolitan, and the intrepid group of women she took under her wing to create one of the most talked about magazines of all time.
|
|
|
|
Cool Machine
by Colson Whitehead
In the 1980s, New York City is beginning to emerge from financial ruin and decline. Up in Harlem, successful business owner/master fence Ray Carney has just been named Sterling Furniture's Dealer of the Month. When the banks won't give his beloved wife Elizabeth a loan for her new travel agency, however, Carney gambles on one last heist, and finds himself entangled with a legendary criminal mastermind. With his usual pitch-perfect prose, Colson Whitehead paints a portrait of a city in transition, where shimmering skyscrapers rise to the heavens as displaced people huddle in abandoned tunnels below.
|
|
|
|
Icarus 17
by Charles Cumming
In the newest entry in Charles Cumming's bestselling BOX 88 series, master spy Lachlan Kite heads to Athens, Greece, after an old flame asks for help locating her missing son.
|
|
|
|
Killer Vibes
by Jack Friday
Meet Peter Key: self-proclaimed laziest private investigator in Texas and surprised recipient of an inheritance from an uncle he barely knew. Peter's life was a mess before, but now -- as the owner of a dilapidated house in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Austin -- he has a mountain of debt to deal with and pressure to sell from every side. But Peter doesn't like to be pushed around. And when he discovers a bag full of cash, he starts to suspect his uncle's death wasn't an accident. He soon finds himself pulled into a lethal game where not everybody plays by the rules. Fortunately, Peter's never been good at following rules.
|
|
|
|
Getting Away with Murder
by Shari Lapena
Jill and Ted adore their New York brownstone the way others adore their children. They have made every inch of it their own. It reflects who they are, their status and tastes. With the grand mahogany staircase and state-of-the-art kitchen, it is the stuff of glossy magazines and real-estate dreams. So when Ted's inheritance runs out and he makes a bad investment, they panic. How can they protect their beloved home and enviable lifestyle? The answer is obvious to Jill and Ted. The death of one wealthy family member could solve all their problems. Together, they will get away with murder. As long as they trust each other. As long as neither makes a mistake. As long as there are no surprises...
|
|
|
|
The Cloak and Dagger Club
by Jackie McMahon
With her first mystery debuting with strong sales and glowing reviews, Lucy Hubbard is invited by Horace Hazelmoor, the king of crime fiction, to join his elite group of writers, the Cloak and Dagger Club. Lucy finds herself swept up into Horace's glamorous world at the Ritz hotel. She's even willing to put up with the presence of her former fiance, Frank Murray, who is on track to eclipse Horace as Britain's most popular crime writer. But when Horace is found with a knife in his back, Frank is the police's prime suspect. Despite their complicated history, Lucy knows he's not capable of murder. With suspects galore and the danger rising, these two mystery writers must race to solve the crime--and fight their lingering feelings for each other--before the murderer strikes again.
|
|
|
|
The Intrigue
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
In 1940s Mexico, handsome con artist Ulises charms lonely women via letters in order to steal their money, but he knows his looks won't last forever, and he's desperate to get his hands on a real fortune. He thinks he's found it when he captivates Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in Veracruz. But Perla has a niece, Ines, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt's household. When Ines discovers Ulises's true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. They'll convince her aunt that Ulises is a great catch and get her money, easy, fast, and clean. But Perla is not the desperate spinster Ulises imagines. She harbors secrets. And although Ulises does not believe in true romance, Ines is more alluring than he bargained for. Suddenly, a simple plan may become perilously complicated.
|
|
|
|
Ransom
by Daniel Silva
Alice Winter, one of Britain's most dazzling socialites, seemingly has the perfect life -- a lavish home in posh Knightsbridge, a grand estate in Devon, millions of followers on social media who eagerly await her next post. But when she disappears without a trace while on holiday, her desperate husband, real estate baron Edward Knight, turns to Gabriel Allon to find her. Gabriel soon discovers that Alice is not the woman she appears to be. But Edward has a secret too, a secret so dangerous that Gabriel will have no choice but to return to the life he thought he had left behind. An old enemy lurks there, waiting for him to make one misstep, waiting for the perfect moment to exact vengeance.
|
|
|
|
The Masala Chai Mystery Club
by MJ Soni
Retired librarian Neeti Shah was hoping for a restful life, but when a much-despised neighbor turns up dead and the killer's MO is similar to that of Neeti's most recent book club read, things start to get out of control. Blackmailing his neighbors, threatening them with lawsuits, and calling them by nasty nicknames were only some of the hateful things that made him so disliked. But were they angry enough to kill? Neeti enlists the Masala Chai Mystery Club to get to the bottom of the murder. But as more bodies turn up and more suspects start to appear, they'll need to find the killer before they end up in hot water.
|
|
|
|
Hide and Seek
by Soren Sveistrup
A strange voice from inside the woods, repeating a child's counting rhyme. A body discovered in the water. Thirty years later, a woman begins receiving a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same rhyme. Then she disappears... Searching for the missing woman, detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess uncover links to a decades-old cold case, and their investigation takes a terrifying turn. A violent killer is on the loose. Can Hess and Thulin catch them, before they strike again?
|
|
|
New Science Fiction & Fantasy
|
|
|
|
Sea of Charms: A Spellshop Novel
by Sarah Beth Durst
Betrayed by love, Marin lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the shrub as her crew. On one of her trips to the capital, Marin finds a revolution underway and her friend Dax in the line of fire. What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home. But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile. Marin realizes that perhaps she isn't saving him; maybe it's the other way around. Sea of Charms is a cozy fantasy romance about finding your crew, your family, and moreover, finding yourself.
|
|
|
|
|
|